Hundreds gather at funeral for three children

Peggy Curran, The Gazette01.04.2013

Patrick Desautels, centre, carries a photograph of his children after funeral service for three young children who were killed, allegedly by their mother, pictured in Acton Vale, near Montreal on Saturday. Mother Sonia Blanchette had lost a long and bitter custody battle with her ex-husband, Patrick Desautels.Allen McInnis
/ The Gazette

Mourninger gather outside Eglise Acton Vale after a funeral service for three young children who were killed, allegedly by their mother, pictured in Acton Vale, near Montreal on Saturday.Allen McInnis
/ The Gazette

Mourners comfort each other outside Eglise Acton Vale after funeral service for three young children who were killed, allegedly by their mother, pictured in Acton Vale, near Montreal on Saturday,Allen McInnis
/ The Gazette

A Teddy Bear sits in a small farm tractor parked outside St. André D’Acton Vale Church on Saturday during the funeral services for three young children who were allegedly killed by their mother.Allen McInnis
/ The Gazette

Patrick Desautels, right, carries a photograph of his children after a funeral service for three young children who were killed, allegedly by their mother, pictured in Acton Vale, near Montreal on Saturday.Allen McInnis
/ The Gazette

Patrick Desautels, right, carries a photograph of his children after a funeral service for three young children who were killed, allegedly by their mother, pictured in Acton Vale, near Montreal on Saturday,Allen McInnis
/ The Gazette

Teddy Bears fill the bucket of a small tractor parked outside St. André D’Acton Vale Church on Saturday during the funeral services for three young children who were allegedly killed by their mother.Allen McInnis
/ The Gazette

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The painful word of a heartbroken grandfather echoed across the pews of St. André d’Acton Catholic Church where hundreds of mourners gathered Saturday afternoon to bid farewell to three small children and try to grapple with their senseless deaths.

“Bon voyage,” he said in a direct farewell message to the spirits of Laurélie, 5, Loïc, 4, and Anaïs, 2.

Meanwhile, he asked those at the church for something else — to spare compassion for their grieving families, and perhaps even find forgiveness for a terrible act done by someone who loved those children “with all their heart.”

On Thursday, Sonia Blanchette was charged with three counts of first-degree murder. Her children drowned last Sunday during what was supposed to be a supervised visit at her Drummondville-area home.

Blanchette had been locked in a bitter custody battle with the children’s father, Patrick Desautels, for more than a year. She was allowed to see her children for only a few hours every second weekend, and then only when her own mother was present. However, people in the community said Blanchette, who worked at a local Greek restaurant, spoke of her children often, lovingly, and with determination to get them back.

“I spoke to Sonia briefly on the phone yesterday,” he said, his voice quavering. Family members later refused to say whether he was Blanchette’s father, saying only that was “one of the grandpapas.”

It was the only time the children’s mother was mentioned during the hour-long service in the pretty grey stone church already decorated for Christmas.

As the funeral ended, friends and family released brightly coloured balloons bearing the numbers 2, 4 and 5 — the ages of the three dead children, one of several elements reflecting how young and innocent the victims were.

Before the funeral began, images of the children, smiling and happy, flickered on a projector hoisted above the altar.

There was Laurélie twirling wildly in a long pink party dress. In another photo, she was still a baby, dwarfed by a giant sunflower. In yet another, her dark brown curls were tousled and her eyes bright as she ran through a meadow blowing bubbles.

There were pictures of Loïc as a toddler wearing big plastic sun glasses or learning to swim, of Anaïs in a floppy sun hat with a silly grin and a mouthful of food. “Rest well, I love you,” said Desautels, who joined a daycare worker and Laurélie’s teacher in sharing stories, trying to capture the essence of each child’s emerging personality: Anaïs, who loved to laugh and was fascinated by the goings-on in the daycare kitchen; Loïc, who had a vivid imagination and loved to draw; Laurélie, who brought her big sister persona to become a leader from the day she entered the classroom.

“This drama leaves us without word and our sadness is unimaginable,” said Rev. Jacques Vézina, the parish priest at St. André d’Acton. “We are not here as journalists or detectives ... we may ask ourselves ‘what would Jesus do?’ For some, the answer is ‘there is no Jesus.’ But we are here as believers, people of faith.” While there is no doubt in Vézina’s mind that these innocent children have gone to heaven, “it may be difficult for us to understand why God has called them away already.”

Blanchette has been ordered to undergo a psychiatric exam to determine if she is fit to stand trial.

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